The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

SWAT an L.A. County Deputy D.A.? That’s Not News. SWAT a Teen Starlet …?

Posted on | August 2, 2012 | 8 Comments

Has the Los Angeles Times ever written about the SWATting of Patrick “Patterico” Frey? Never mind: Miley Cyrus is victim of a “prank”!

On Wednesday night, Cyrus was the target of “swatting” — a prank in which an anonymous caller reports a heinous crime to authorities so a SWAT team will swarm an innocent person’s home — TMZ reported.
The caller, whom Los Angeles police are said to be tracking, told a 911 operator that Cyrus’ property had been invaded by a kidnapper and there had been a shooting.
At least a dozen officers and firefighters responded to the scene, according to L.A. Now. Luckily for all involved, it turned out to be a hoax.

Pranks! They’re so hilarious! But “pranks” are only news when they happen to famous celebrities. Did Miley eat at Chick-fil-A or something?

UPDATE: A guy who’s not a famous celebrity writes:

The more people do this without consequence, the more it will happen. One day someone is going to get hurt.

Yeah, but unless the victim is a famous celebrity, who cares? It’s Hollywood. We probably never would have heard of Charles Manson except for the fact that Sharon Tate was one of his victims.

Category: Celebrities, Crime, Patterico

Comments

8 Responses to “SWAT an L.A. County Deputy D.A.? That’s Not News. SWAT a Teen Starlet …?”

  1. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    August 2nd, 2012 @ 8:16 pm

    Is it just some copy cat SWATting or is Brett Kimberlin out causing trouble again?  It is true celebrities get special attention (both good and bad). While the celebrity angle certainly lended attention to Mr. Manson, that case would have been a big deal regardless.

    I agree, someone is eventually going to get hurt badly by all of this. This SWATting is evil because you can see how it could happen and people do it anyway. When caught, the prosecutor should go after the responsible individuals very hard.

  2. Adjoran
    August 2nd, 2012 @ 8:22 pm

    If I were LAPD, I’d be looking hard at Lindsay Lohan.

    The real problem with media is the continued labeling of the practice as a “prank.” 

    Let someone do it to the LAT editor and see how they describe it then.

  3. Quartermaster
    August 2nd, 2012 @ 8:24 pm

    Do it to a LAT Editor and we’d be hearing about for the next 20 years (or until LAT goes broke which will be a far shorter time).

  4. McGehee
    August 2nd, 2012 @ 8:34 pm

    And they’ll be blaming it on Teh Rightwinggarz even if the perp turns out to be a charter member of the Che Guevara Chapter of the Socialist Youth International.

  5. Adjoran
    August 2nd, 2012 @ 8:40 pm

     So, you suspect an inside job, then?

  6. robertstacymccain
    August 2nd, 2012 @ 8:43 pm

    a charter member of the Che Guevara Chapter of the Socialist Youth International.

    But why bring Obama into this?

  7. Bob Belvedere
    August 3rd, 2012 @ 8:17 am

    Brian Ross is reporting that it could have been a TEA Party guy who stands on corners a lot with anti-Messiah, er, Obama signs.

    http://bobsautobio.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/weird-cousin-richard-mcenroe-011.jpg

  8. NunOf
    August 3rd, 2012 @ 8:45 am

    “Yeah, but unless the victim is a famous celebrity, who cares?”

    I care.